AD2000: Crap or not

[Ben Gramain]

Haven't got around to ordering a K701 replacement yet. Considering AD2000 for A-T's proven noggin-friendliness.

Source: PC > Fireface > Max or direct from FF

Gets tossed around a lot (the K701 ended up looking very secondhand before it died, and the HD650 doesn't look a lot better). Unsure whether the AD's will hold up. If they're anything like the A900 / A1000 the chances are not so I'll avoid.

Yay or nay. And why. Thanks.

?300 ($550 + ship if abroad) is the max I have in mind for this phone, so any other (open) suggestions and why appreciated.

[Nanoha]

Sound is decent. Somewhat Sennheiser-like, but not quite as dark and full sounding (it's a bit airier) and with relatively good PRaT. Relatively unoffensive in sound, but the midrange is somewhat colored. Sounds quite good out of most solid state amps and DAPs I've heard it through; not quite as good through the tube amp (PPX3 SLAM 6SN7) I heard it through where it produces a slightly sluggish sound (probably a matter of impedance of sorts).

The problem is that, in my opinion, its construction is less solid than that of the A900/A1000. The thin metallic construction "feels" weaker than hard plastic for some reason. And the relatively high quality cable is quite thin and soft.

[Ben Gramain]

Inoffensive and reasonably versatile are the sonic characteristics I'm looking for... casual PC listening, gaming, etc.

If it's less solid than the A900/1K though I defo have issues... with the usage I see them breaking pretty fast. The cable also has to be able to withstand the occasional chair-rollering.

Wondering if I should just stick to the K701 but I don't like the 'nodules' on the headband, plus the band is a tiny tad too small. Soundwise I had few complaints. HD650 - well it's a nice to have and it doesn't squeeze the top of my head but one is enough. It's been a while since I bought a proper open phone (bar the GS1000, which even if I rated it highly wouldn't fit into this usage pattern) so I'd like to hear options.

[PFKMan23]

Not sure what you're looking for in sonic signature, but I think you may also want to consider the Senn 600 or 580.

[Nanoha]

Hah, "unoffensive". What was I typing?

Hmm, yeah. The AD2k is somewhat lacking in the physical solidity department. During my time with one, it felt like two gigantic heavy cups on thin metal strips. (That is, worse than the light plastic cups on thick plastic strips feeling I had with the A900/A500.) The cable feels much weaker/thinner than that of the A900.

I actually consider the A500/A900 to relatively heavy duty cans. I've actually thrown my A500 against concrete walls on two occasions (this was after I considered my A500 to be of little value to me due to a bent plug and ripped earpads) to see what would happen. They came out fine. Haha.

Aye, the AD2k is much weaker.

[Ben Gramain]

Not sure what you're looking for in sonic signature, but I think you may also want to consider the Senn 600 or 580.

Not really. They're fine but in the time I owned the HD600 it never inspired or 'stabilised' on me, even when using it with an amp that was very sweet with the DT880.

[GPH]

I didn't find a proper thread to reply to, so I'll resurrect this old one.

I have a loaner pair of AD2000 right now and I really don't get why many people are enamored with these headphones. I had heard them at a few meets before, but the owner of this pair kept telling me that I needed to hear them in a silent environment to really appreciate them. Well, that's what I'm doing right now and I still think they're more or less crap. They do some things well, like a lot of air in the sound and excellent detail retrieval.

But to my ears the bad far outweighs the good. They are painfully bright in my system and the cymbals hurt my brain. They lack bass quantity big time and the vocals are a bit distant and not engaging at all. And I'm not sure how to put it, but they sound artificial in the treble, a bit like the Lambda Sigs I had a while ago.

It was truly a relief to listen to the same songs on my JH13 after a short session with the AD2K, the JH13 are some of the most balanced phones I've heard. Unless someone is looking for a very bright sound signature and/or is a cymbals-head, I really wouldn't recommend these headphones based on the listening I have done in my system.

[blessingx]

At a couple meets the AD2K was right up there with the absolute best. Difficult to get synergy though. GS-1 wouldn't be it. Zanas sound nice. Eventually sold my AD2Ks as I never had the right gear.

[GPH]

Yeah, synergy might be it, because at meets I thought it sounded better than what I'm hearing now. It should be noted that I usually prefer "darker" headphones (O2, HD650, SR-001, etc.).

[jp11801]

I would rank the AD2ks amongst the best sub $1000 dynamic cans, they are my morning coffee headphone

[Dusty Chalk]

Yeah, but don't you like detail?

[boomana]

they are my morning coffee headphone

You have a morning coffee headphone?

I never appreciated the AD2000 until I heard them in Ironbut's rig. If you don't like the headphone, there's a decent chance that it's your system that's holding them back.

[Augsburger]

Yeah, but don't you like detail?

I think they have a great amount of detail but as Boomy said, the ad2Ks appear to me to be system dependent. For example the EC balancing act and the Zana have made really nice pairings with K701s, hd 650s and W1000s. Heck the Metric Halo headphone amp made the K701s sound the best I have ever heard since DigiPetes DynaHi. Go figure

[Ben Gramain]

You have a morning coffee headphone?

I never appreciated the AD2000 until I heard them in Ironbut's rig. If you don't like the headphone, there's a decent chance that it's your system that's holding them back.

Either that or only a crazily flavoured system will bend them to your liking.

[boomana]

I wouldn't exactly put Ironbut's Master Tape Project/R2R/Zana Duex rig in the "crazily flavoured" category, but if that's the sort of thing you like, go for it.

[Ben Gramain]

Just amuses me what people read into quality when only the flavour has changed.

Amazed thread is still up on front page just when I come back, but yeah - consider my interest in these waned. T1 bound now, who knows thereafter.

[jp11801]

You have a morning coffee headphone?

I never appreciated the AD2000 until I heard them in Ironbut's rig. If you don't like the headphone, there's a decent chance that it's your system that's holding them back.

Yes I have a morning cup of coffee headphone, more of a process of elimination than well thought out choice.

007mkl, no good as eating and drinking with them produces annoying farty noises, I do enough of that all on my own TYVM

JH13s, at 530-600am it is way to early to get full ear canal penetration going on, after 10am only please

HF2s nice but IMO not as good as the AD2ks and miles away in comfort

Yeah, but don't you like detail?

Plenty of detail coming straight out of my Sonic 305 DAC/ADC, I'm sure you'll get to hear it one of these days at a meet or mini meet. We should see Stevieo at some point and take over his home when the wife is out of town

Either that or only a crazily flavoured system will bend them to your liking.

highly doubt the R2R system or the Sonic 305 is flavored.

Likely it is a factor of the low impedance and high sensitivity that makes them a little picky. People equate low impedance with easy to drive, tell that to apogee speaker owners. It is the sensitivity that makes them easy to drive but I think it may be the low impedance that creates their finicky nature. I'm sure someone with actually knowledge in this area could speak more directly to that point.

[boomana]

Well, I do think there's a lot to be said for the quality of the headphone when it's capable scaling well and revealing system changes. That, to me, is a large part of defining quality. That's what a good headphone is supposed to do imo. If a headphone can't show marked improvements moving from, let's say, a decent cd source, to ironbut's killer source, I'd say the headphone quality was either mediocre and/or crazily flavored, not the system.

[spritzer]

My guess is that this has nothing to do with the system being colored. Rather impedance matching, damping factor etc. is the key here.

[manaox2]

They did sound good when I listened to them in SoFlo out of Asr's beastly Woo 22 rig, definitely not crap.

[Cynric]

The AD2000 are imho the weirdest sounding phones I've ever heard . They sounded so totally realistic, yet totally wrong. As if the real musician stood right before, playing a seriously broken and misadjusted version of his instrument.

Strange cans, those....

[Dusty Chalk]

I do. Think red apple in green light -- it turns mostly black, but in your mind it's still red, because we can usually see past "distortions" like that. It's the same thing with audio -- we can usually hear past, for example, cheap car stereos to the music underneath to know that there are frequencies missing, only because we know what the music is supposed to sound like.

I suspect what is going on is that it's letting enough information through to let Cynric's "mind's ear" hear what's going on, but it's still wrong. Like the GS-1000.

But that's based entirely on hearsay, so don't go repeating that as if I have opinions of the AD2000, which I haven't heard myself.

Edited June 2, 2010 by Dusty Chalk
Corrected RS-1000 to GS-1000

[mypasswordis]

These really do seem to be some of the most controversial headphones, even among ATs. I look forward to possibly glancing at one over the course of the 2.5 days I'm at CJ and then regretting not spending the time to listen to them afterward.

[GPH]

For the sake of argument, isn't the Dynalo designed for low-Z cans? I'm open to the possibility that the AD2000 might sound better in other setups, but I think it might just be a case here of 'different strokes for different folks'.

[Cynric]

i think a more precise way of putting it would be that spatial information was being presented properly, but tonal information wasn't. i don't know if that's the case, i've never heard them.

Yup, something like that. To me the presentation sounded very real - like real live music, not like the reproduction of some -, yet the sound/tonality of this music was not at all the sound I was used to (speaking of tracks I knew very vell). Just like a musician playing your favourite violin piece on a violin totally out of tune right in front of you.

Compare it to watching a show you know well on a brand new HDTV but with seriously mis-adjusted colors.